Brooklyn's Ultra-Orthodox Jews More Willing To Use Civil Authorities In Abuse Cases

The New York Times yesterday reported on the sharp rise in child sexual abuse cases brought recently by prosecutors in Brooklyn (NY) against members of the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community. After decades in which almost no abuse prosecutions were brought against ultra-Orthodox Jews, a number of developments have led to members of the haredi community for the first time being willing to go to civil authorities to file complaints. The Jewish press, therapists, Orthodox Jewish social workers, rabbis, Jewish blogs and new organizations, combined with the failure of rabbinical courts to deal effectively with molesters, have led parents of victims and the victims themselves to overcome the traditional stigma of going to civil authorities instead of internal religious courts. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has begun a program called Kol Tzedek (Voice of Justice) that cooperates with Orthodox social workers and sends speakers into schools and community centers to talk about sexual abuse.

UPDATE: According to Wednesday' Forward, despite these developments several national rabbinic leaders urge that Orthodox rabbinic courts continue to screen allegations of sexual abuse to decide whether they should be forwarded to civil law enforcement authorities.

Florida Judge Will Order Teenage Convert Back To Ohio's Jurisdiction

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reported yesterday that a Florida judge will order 17-year old Fathima Rifqa Bary back to her home state of Ohio where an Ohio court wants jurisdiction. A foster home for the girl has been identified in Ohio. Bary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, fled in August to Florida to husband and wife pastors she had met through Facebook. Rifqa claimed she was afraid her father would kill her because of her conversion. Currently the girl is in custody of Florida's Department of Children and Families. (See prior posting.) Bary's family says that Rifqa's fears are unfounded, but the girl's Florida lawyer says she still is afraid of being returned to her native Sri Lanka.

Florida Circuit Court Judge Daniel Dawson says he will not order the girl returned until her family submits paper work clarifying her immigration status which so far have not been forthcoming despite several court orders seeking them. He also wants assurances that Rifqa will be able to continue studying in a Florida online school. Several people in an Ohio courtroom participated by phone in yesterday's hearing in Florida, including lawyers for Rifqa's parents, her Ohio lawyer, an Ohio prosecutor and a judge. Rifqa spent much of the hearing thumbing through a Bible.

California Governor Vetoes Bill Mandating Police Educational Material On Kirpans

On Sunday, California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would have required the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) to create additional training materials for law enforcement officers on how to deal with Sikhs carrying kirpans. (See prior posting.) The governor said that AB 504 is unnecessary because POST already has authority to create this type of material if it finds it is needed. Religion News Service yesterday quoted Neha Singh of the Sikh Coalition who said the Sikh community was "outraged" by the veto. Singh said that police officers often do not know what they are looking at when they see a kirpan. However a POST spokesman said that statistically the kirpan is not a significant issue.

Postal Service's 2009 Holiday Stamps Are Being Issued

As reported (with photos) by Collectors Quest, the U.S. Postal Service is in the midst of issuing its 2009 holiday season stamps. Last week at the American Stamp Dealers Association show in New York it issued a set of four Winter Holiday stamps with non-religious designs on them-- a reindeer, a snowman, a gingerbread man and a toy soldier. Next week USPS will issue a Christmas stamp with a religious theme. It will feature a painting of Madonna and Child by the 17th century Italian painter Giovanni Sassoferrato. According to a USPS news release, this stamp will be issued Oct. 20 at the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. The the Sassoferrato painting was acquired by William Randolph Hearst in 1926.

Also at the New York ASDA show last week, the Postal Service issued a new Hanukkah stamp featuring a Menorah with nine lit candles and a new brightly colored Kwanzaa stamp. A second Christmas stamp featuring an angel playing a lute was originally also going to be issued this year, but was dropped because of the Postal Service's budget problems. (Stamp News 3/19/2009.)

Senate Majority Leader Criticizes Mormon Church's Support For Proposition 8

The Salt Lake Tribune reported yesterday that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a meeting with three organizers of last weekend's National Equality March in Washington criticized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for its support of California's Proposition 8 last year. Proposition 8 banning gay marriage passed by a 52% vote after a campaign in which the LDS Church and many of its members contributed significant funds and other support. (See prior posting.) Reid, a Senator from Nevada and himself a Mormon, said he thought it was a waste of Church resources and good will for the LDS Church to focus on such a divisive issue.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Dedrick v. Wilner, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92618 (D CO, Sept. 23, 2009), a federal prisoner complained that he is being required to attend a drug abuse education program in violation of his free exercise rights as a condition of obtaining supervised release, and that he will be required to attend a 12-step program with religious content upon release. The court held that his claim regarding future requirements is not ripe, and that his claim regarding his current conditions of confinement need to be filed as a Bivens action instead of a habeas corpus action.

In Lewers v. Pinellas County Jail, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92702 (MD FL, Sept. 18, 2009), a Florida federal district court held that a Jewish inmate may proceed with his claim that he was denied a kosher diet. However it rejected his claim that he is entitled to be furnished free of charge with Jewish reading materials, a Torah and a Talmud. The court held that plaintiff failed to adequately allege an equal protection claim, but gave him leave to file an amended petition to cure pleading deficiencies as to his free exercise claims.

In Holley v. Johnson, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94126 (WD VA, Oct. 1, 2009), a Virginia federal district court held that plaintiff had adequately alleged violations of his rights under RLUIPA and the First Amendment stemming from confiscation of religious materials and denial of the Common Fare Diet. Plaintiff claimed that the only reason for these actions was that prison authorities do not consider Nations of Gods and Earths to be a religion. The court held that an inmate's sincere, but personal, religious beliefs are entitled to consideration regardless of whether they are shared by all of the members of a religious sect.

Conservative Christian Groups Oppose Current Heath Care Reform Proposals

Liberty Counsel yesterday issued a press release endorsed by 34 other conservative Christian groups saying that "it is time to start over" on health care reform, with a "nonpartisan approach." The statement said in part:

We oppose funding for abortion. Abortion is not healthcare. We support the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.... We support conscience laws protecting hospitals and healthcare providers from coerced participation in abortion. We oppose government policies pressuring people to forgo or limit treatment because of age or illness..... Every proposed bill funds abortion, including the so-called Baucus bill from the Senate Finance Committee. This is unacceptable. We will not support any bill that funds abortion.

... We support legal reform to stop frivolous lawsuits ...[,] portability, allowing people to take their healthcare with them so it is not tied to employment...[,] options to purchase health insurance across state lines.... We support competition; coverage of pre-existing conditions; wellness care and prevention incentives; tax relief that provides a dollar-for-dollar deduction for every dollar spent on premiums or other medical or prescription costs; and a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction with no limit from gross income for every dollar contributed to nonprofit organizations providing healthcare for free or at reduced cost to the needy..... We oppose a single-payer, government-run insurance program or the so-called public option.

Christian Scientists Want Coverage Under Health Care Reform Bill

Today's St. Petersburg (FL) Times reports on concerns of Christian Scientists as to proposed health care reforms. They want Christian Science practitioners and similar prayer-based healing covered by health insurance. Some of the drafts of health care reform legislation mandate this type of coverage. Other drafts merely exempt religious objectors from the requirement to obtain health insurance.

Two Pentecostal Churches In Britain Cited For Loud Music

In Britain, according to yesterday's London Telegraph, two Christian pentecostal churches have been served with noise abatement notices after neighbors complained about the loud music played at their services. All Nations Centre in Kennington, south London, has been told to end amplification of music and sermons. A week earlier, Immanuel International Christian Centre in Waltham Forest, north-east London, was cited and told it could play amplified music only for twenty minutes on Sundays. Attendance has gone down from 100 to 30 because of the ban. The churches say the bans are not about noise, but about silencing Christian viewpoints.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Prakash Shah, Coping with Super-Diversity in Law: Thoughts on the British Scene, (Religion and Law in Multicultural Societies, Rubya Mehdi et. al., eds., pp. 63-81, DJØF Publishing, 2008.)
• Scott C. Idleman, A Legal Perspective on Conflicts Involving Religious Communities, (Marquette Law School Legal Studies Paper No. 09-35, July 2009).
• Zvi H. Triger, The Gendered Racial Formation: Foreign Men, "Our" Women, and the Law, (Women's Rights Law Reporter, Vol. 30, No. 3/4, 2009).
• Justin G. Holbrook, Legal Hybridity in the Philippines: Lessons in Legal Pluralism from Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, (October 9, 2009).

From SmartCILP:

• Jonathan Cohen, Kosher Slaughter, State Regulation of Religious Organizations, and the European Court of Human Rights, 4 Intercultural Human Rights Law Review 355-386 (2009).
• Matthew Steilen, Parental Rights and the State Regulation of Religious Schools, 2009 BYU Education & Law Journal 269-339.

Restoring Historical Cross Explored By California City

In 1969, a wooden cross was put up on Monterey, California's Del Monte Beach to mark 200th anniversary of the raising of a wooden cross at the site by explorer Don Gaspar de Portol and Father Juan Crespi as a signal to the supply ship San Jose, expected to arrive from Mexico. Last month vandals cut down that cross. The Monterey County Herald last week reported that City Council wants to restore the cross because of its historical significance, but is concerned about possible litigation from the ACLU. Even before the vandalism, the ACLU and the city were engaged in discussions about the cross and compromise ways to keep it as a historical marker without its being an endorsement of religion. In a closed session last Tuesday, following a public hearing on the matter, City Council voted to proceed with the new cross only after raising $50,000 in contributions as a legal defense fund.

Egyptian Islamists Sue Top Cleric Over His Ban on Niqab At Al-Ahzar

As reported last week, Egypt's top cleric, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, announced he would ban women wearing the full face veil from entering any of the schools of Sunni Islam's premier institute of learning, al-Azhar. Today Al Arabiya reports that a Muslim brotherhood lawyer, representatives of Egypt's lower house of parliament and the Sawaseya Center for Human Rights have joined together in a lawsuit against Tantawi, claiming that his ban unconstitutionally violates personal freedom and infringes the principle of equality for all citizens. The lawsuit also names Egypt's minister of higher education and the president of Cairo University as defendants. A spokesman for al-Azhar argued that the Muslim Brotherhood is not able to sue because it is an outlawed group. He also claimed that the ban is an internal policy of al-Ahzar that outsiders have no right to challenge.

Vermont Supreme Court Remands Clergy Sex Abuse Case For New Trial, Ruling For Plaintiff

In Turner v. Roman Catholic Diocese, (VT Sup. Ct., Oct. 9, 2009), the Vermont Supreme Court held that neither the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause nor the religious autonomy doctrine bars negligent hiring or negligent supervision claims against the Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vermont. In the clergy sexual abuse case in which the plaintiff was awarded $15,000 in damages, the Court said:

Defendant does not argue that the common law of negligence is something other than a neutral law of general applicability or that it is directed specifically towards a religious belief or practice of defendant. Nor has defendant identified a specific doctrine or practice that will be burdened if plaintiff’s suit goes forward. We do not believe defendant’s generalized assertion that requiring it to hire and supervise priests in a non-negligent manner would constitute undue interference in church governance.

Rejecting defendant's religious autonomy claim, the court said that "the claim was not brought under church law, nor did it seek to enforce the duties of defendant according to religious beliefs." The court also held that summary judgment should not be granted to defendant on statute of limitations grounds.

Finally the court held that the trial court should have excused for cause a juror who was a member of the defendant Diocese. The Court rejected the argument that permitting this challenge for cause would amount to religious discrimination. This finding led the Court to vacate the judgment and remand the case for a new trial.

Yesterday's Bennington (VT) Banner reported on this decision, as well as on another unrelated case in which a trial court jury in Chittenden, Vermont on Friday handed down a $2.2 million verdict in a suit against the same Catholic Diocese in a different clergy child molestation case.

State Court Decision In Synagogue Dispute Leads To Self-Help

Today's Hudson Valley (NY) Times Herald-Record reports on the aftermath of a recent state appellate court decision in a lawsuit between two Hasidic synagogues in the town of Kiryas Joel. Opponents of the village's chief rabbi had for 25 years been using the former living quarters of the chief rabbi (next to the main synagogue) as their own place of worship. Apparently the house had been left to the group by the late wife of Satmar Rebbe Joel Tietelbaum. In the court decision last month, New York's Appellate Division ruled that the dissidents' use of the former home as a place of worship now requires a site plan review by the Village Zoning Board. (See prior posting.) This ruling led the main synagogue, Yetev Lev, to shut off electricty, water and sewer services to the dissident synagogue, Bais Yoel Ohel Feige.

Not deterred, members of BYOF tapped electricity from a neighboring property and ran a hose with water from there to their synagogue. Then, according to the paper's account, along came "Joseph Waldman, a onetime dissident firebrand ... who prays three times a day at the dissident synagogue." He commandeered a truck carrying portable toilets and, with fellow congregants, took the toilets onto BYOF grounds. According to the paper: "Equipped with improvised utilities, dissidents continued using the synagogue during Sukkot last week, but their Planning Board application still looms, and more legal fighting is certain."

UPDATE: BYOF has been held in contempt by a state trial court judge for continuing to use the premises without submitting a site plan for review. The court ordered the synagogue closed within 5 days. (Times Herald-Record, 12/3/2009).

Federal Jury Rejects Religious Discrimination Claim By Indiana City Employee

Friday's Chicago Tribune reports that a federal court jury sided with the Kendallville, Indiana water department in a religious discrimination lawsuit brought against it by former employee Greg Rice. Rice claimed that his supervisor, Scott Mosley, posted religious slogans in the office and repeatedly lectured him about the state of his soul. Mosley is also the pastor of a local church. However apparently the jury believed Mosley's testimony that he fired Rice for insubordination after Rice argued and hung up on a staff member of the city clerk's office.

Appellate Court Reinstates Pakistani Muslim's Employment Discrimination Claims

Taking both parties to task for the 5,415 pages of material that were before the trial court when it was called on to decide a summary judgment motion, a California appellate court nevertheless reversed the dismissal of discrimination and harassment claims brought against United Airlines by a Muslim of Pakistani ancestry. Plaintiff was fired from his position as supervisor of facilities maintenance mechanics, according to United Airlines because of an assault on a female employee of an outside service provider. In Nazir v. United Airlines, Inc., (CA Ct. App., Oct. 9, 2009), the court concluded that questions of fact remained as to whether the reasons given for Nazir's firing were a pretext for religious or national origin discrimination. Nazir had cited a long history of ethnic name calling and harassment by co-workers. Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports on the decision.

Presidential Statement, Official Delegation Hail Canonization of Fr. Damien

Pope Benedict XVI today canonized five new saints, including Belgian-born priest, Jozef De Veuster, known as Father Damien, who died of leprosy in 1889 after years of caring for those suffering from leprosy on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. (New York Times.) On Friday, the White House issued a statement from the President recognizing Fr. Damien's canonization. Obama, who was born in Hawaii, recalled hearing stories of Fr. Damien's work. A large delegation from Hawaii attended the canonization ceremony in Rome. ABC News reports that President Obama sent an official delegation to Sunday's ceremony. It was led by US ambassador to the Vatican, Miguel Humberto Diaz, and included Hawaii Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka; New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne; the superintendent of Kalaupapa National Historic Park, Stephen Prokop; Bishop of Honolulu Larry Silva; and President of the Catholic Health Association of the United States Sister Carol Ann Keehan.

Ohio Judge Again Enjoined From Displaying Poster Featuring 10 Commandments

In ACLU of Ohio Foundation, Inc. v. DeWeese, (ND OH, Oct. 8, 2009), an Ohio federal district court enjoined Richland County (OH) Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese from continuing to display in his court room a framed poster he had created titled "Philosophies of Law In Conflict." The poster was put up after the judge was enjoined in 2004 from displaying a poster containing the Ten Commandments. The new poster discussed moral absolutism as opposed to moral relativism. In a column titled Moral Absolutes, the poster lists the text of the Ten Commandments next to a column listing "Humanist Precepts." Granting summary judgment to the ACLU, the court concluded that Judge DeWeese's purpose in posting the display was religious, and that a reasonable person would view the poster as a governmental endorsement of religion. The poster violated the Establishment Clause as well as Art. I, Sec. 7 of the Ohio Constitution. The court also concluded that the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment does not protect the display because it is not private speech. The Ohio ACLU issued a press release on the case and Friday's Mansfield (OH) News Journal reported on it. (See prior related posting.)

UPDATE: The Oct. 13 Mansfield News Journal reports that Judge DeWeese has complied with the federal court order by placing a dark blue drape over his display and posting on the drape a statement objecting to censorship which he says was imposed because "the ACLU was offended" by reading his essay.

San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese Battles City Over Transfer Tax Liability

The San Francisco Bay Guardian reports on a hearing yesterday before the city's Transfer Tax Review Board. At issue is somewhere between $3 million and $15 million in transfer taxes that the city says are due from the San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese as a result of its transfer last year of some 233 properties to two new Catholic non-profit holding companies. According to yesterday's SF Appeal, apparently the properties were transferred to shield them from judgments in any future clergy sexual abuse lawsuits. The Archdiocese says the transfers are not subject to tax because, as transfers from one Catholic entity to another, they qualify as "gifts" under canon law. In an earlier statement, the Archdiocese claimed that the law treats these as properties of the Church, and that the transfers between religious corporations are seen as merely conveniences to assist the Church in holding title. Church supporters say that paying these transfer taxes could cripple other Church programs. Some suggest that attempts by San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting to impose the tax is retaliation for the Church's support of Proposition 8 (banning gay marriage) last year. [Thanks to PewSitter for the lead.]

NY Appellate Court Refuses To Adjudicate Validity of Hindu Marriage Rites

In Madireddy v. Madireddy, (NY App. Div., Oct. 6, 2009), a New York state appellate court dismissed a divorce complaint because the case required the civil courts to determine whether the parties' were validly married in a Hindu ceremony in India in 1952. The court concluded that determining the validity of the alleged marriage required analysis of "the various and customary rites, customs, and practices of the Hindu religion of a particular caste in a particular region." The trial court was without jurisdiction to settle a religious controversy that could not be resolved by the application of neutral principles of law. [Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw for the lead.]